Four score

France, Sweden, Czech Republic, Bulgaria first to qualify for Euro 2004

LONDON (AP) -- Defending champion France led the first four qualifiers into next year's European Championships on Wednesday by winning 2-0 at Slovenia.

Sweden, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic also made it to Euro 2004, the Czechs scoring an impressive 3-1 victory over the Netherlands to leave the star-studded Dutch to try and qualify for the runners-up playoffs.

Goals by David Trezeguet and Olivier Dacourt maintained France's perfect record of seven wins and the team goes to Portugal full of confidence despite its inept defense of the World Cup last year. The only sour note was the ejection of Claude Makelele in the second half for two yellow cards.

"This was the toughest match for us so far," France coach Jacques Santini said. "We let go a little for 20 minutes in the first half, but after putting two or three little things into place at halftime, I think that the win is deserved, and of course so is the qualification."

Jan Koller scored an early penalty and Karel Poborsky and Milan Baros netted the other goals as the Czechs outplayed the Dutch in Prague.

Rafael Van der Vaart replied with the Netherlands already 2-0 down and playing with 10 men after the 14th minute ejection of Edgar Davids for two yellow cards.

Although the Dutch can still catch the Czechs for points, they have an inferior head-to-head record having been held 1-1 at home in March.

"This squad deserved to win," Czech captain Pavel Nedved said. "We did our best and scored some wonderful goals."

Sweden scored a 2-0 victory over Poland in Warsaw to ensure it finished top of Group 4 with strikes by Mikael Nilsson and Olof Mellberg.

The achievement means that the Swedes have qualified for their last three international tournaments including Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup and are unbeaten in 25 qualifying games under joint coaches Tommy Soderberg and Lars Lagerback.

Bulgaria gained a 3-0 win at Andorra and guaranteed finishing top of Group 8 because Croatia lost 2-1 at Belgium.

Dimitar Berbatov netted twice for the Bulgarians in Andorra but they also had Belgian striker Wesley Sonck to thank for two strikes in Brussels.

The Bulgarians have 17 points from seven games and an unbeatable four-point lead over Croatia and Belgium who are now fighting over the playoff spot. The Croats face Bulgaria in their final match Oct. 11, while Belgium takes on Estonia.

World Cup runner up Germany edged Scotland 2-1 to jump to the top of Group 5 above Iceland which was idle. Rudi Voeller's team, slammed by the German media after a 0-0 tie with Iceland on Saturday, now leads by two points with a four-point advantage over the Scots. The Germans host Iceland in their final match Oct. 11.

Fredi Bobic and a Michael Ballack penalty put the Germans in control although Neil McCann replied for the Scots in Dortmund.

Italy should have been joining the other four teams into the finals but conceded a late equalizer in a 1-1 tie at Serbia-Montenegro.

After Filippo Inzaghi, who scored three times against Wales on Saturday, had put the Italians ahead in Belgrade, Sasa Ilic leveled for the home team eight minutes from the end.

Wales also threw away two points when it was held 1-1 at home by Finland and that means Italy remains a point ahead of Mark Hughes' Welsh team with a game to go. The odds remains heavily in favor of Giovanni Trapattoni's team who go to last place Azerbaijan while the Welsh host the Serbs.

"We could have already qualified," Trapattoni said. "I'll wait until it's official.

"I'm very optimistic that we'll qualify directly. It was a tough match, but we are returning to Italy with a brilliant result."

Although England managed just a 2-0 victory over soccer minnow Liechtenstein at Old Trafford, the three points meant that Sven-Goran Eriksson's men go to the top of Group 7 above World Cup semifinalist Turkey.

Michael Owen and 17-year-old striker Wayne Rooney scored the second half goals to calm the nerves of the England fans and a point in Istanbul Oct. 11 will be enough to qualify and leave the Turks facing the playoffs.

England captain David Beckham returned to Old Trafford for the first time since his transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid and, like the standout Rooney, was given a standing ovation by the crowd when he was substituted in the second half.

"It's a great feeling," Beckham said. "The fans have always been great to me here and, even walking off everyone clapped me with a standing ovation and that meant a lot to me."

Raul Gonzalez scored two second-half goals as Spain edged Ukraine 2-1 to cut Greece's lead atop Group 6 to one point.

Spain can still win the group if it wins in Armenia on Oct. 11 and Greece fails to beat bottom-place Northern Ireland at home the same day. Northern Ireland, which lost 1-0 at home to Armenia, has now gone 19 hours without scoring.

Despite Andriy Shevchenko's goal in the 84th minute Ukraine can't qualify so that the top two spots are between Greece and Spain.

Switzerland's bid to clinch a place from Group 10 was wrecked by a 4-1 beating by Russia in Moscow where striker Dmitry Bulykin scored three goals.

Switzerland now has to beat Ireland at home on Oct. 11 to qualify directly while Wednesday's victory gives the Russians, who have gained four points in two games against their biggest rivals under new coach Georgy Yartsev, renewed hope of qualifying through the playoffs.

The 2-2 tie between Denmark and Romania in Copenhagen left the two teams tied on 14 points atop Group 2. With the Romanians without any further games, it's all down to the Danes' visit to third place Bosnia-Herzegovena, who could still qualify for its first international championship by winning that game at home. Bosnia gained a 1-0 victory at Luxembourg and is two points behind the Danes and Romanians.